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TOKYO — Wide swaths of the south Pacific, Asia and Australia braced for a tsunami after a devastating earthquake hit the coast of Chile on Saturday.

Officials in Japan and Australia warned a TSUNAMI from the earthquake was likely to hit ASIAN, AUSTRALIAN and NEW ZEALAND SHORES WITHIN 24 HOURS. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a TSUNAMI WARNING that included the PHILIPPINES, TAIWAN, INDONESIA, and many island nations in the Pacific. A lower-level advisory that a tsunami was possible was issued for northern Pacific locations, including the U.S. West Coast and Alaska.

"Sea-level readings confirm that a tsunami has been generated which could cause widespread damage," the center said in a bulletin after the magnitude-8.8 quake. "Authorities should take appropriate action to respond to this threat."

The center noted that the first waves after a quake are not necessarily the largest and said tsunami wave heights are difficult to predict because they can vary significantly along a coast due to the local topography.

Earthquakes across the Pacific have had deadly effects on Asia in the past.

A TSUNAMI after a magnitude-9.5 QUAKE that struck CHILE IN 1960, THE LARGEST EARTHQUAKE EVER RECORDED, KILLED about 140 PEOPLE in JAPAN, 61 in HAWAII and 32 in the PHILIPPINES. That tsunami was about 3.3 to 13 feet (one to four meters) in height, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

The tsunami from Saturday's quake was likely to be much smaller because the quake itself was not as strong.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted earthquake experts as saying the tsunami would likely be tens of centimeters (inches) high and reach Japan in about 22 hours. A tsunami of 28 centimeters (11 inches) was recorded after a magnitude-8.4 earthquake near Chile in 2001.

The Meteorological Agency said it was still investigating the likelihood of a tsunami from the magnitude-8.8 quake and did not issue a formal coastal warning.

[COLOR="Yellow"]Australia, meanwhile, was put on a tsunami watch./COLOR]

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for a "potential tsunami threat" to New South Wales state, Queensland state, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. Any potential wave would not hit Australia until Sunday morning local time, it said.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology issued a low-level alert saying people should await further notice of a possible tsunami. It did not recommend evacuations.

The earthquake that struck early Saturday in central Chile shook the capital for a minute and a half.

—AP

Roskilde 5 July 2009

Herning 16 August 2009

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CHILE EARTHQUAKE - NEWS UPDATES ON 27 FEBRUARY 2010

MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE STRIKES CHILE

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8540289.stm

A massive earthquake has hit central Chile and killed at least 147 people, though the toll is expected to rise.

The 8.8 quake caused widespread damage, destroying buildings, bridges and roads in many areas, including the capital where a chemical plant caught fire.
Electricity, water and phone lines have been cut. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to be affected.

Several Pacific countries were hit by waves higher than usual after a tsunami was set off by the quake.

In French Polynesia waves 6ft (1.8m) high swept ashore, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

Hawaii, Tahiti and New Zealand were among countries to warn residents in coastal areas to move to higher ground.

The earthquake struck at 06:34 GMT, 115km (70 miles) north-east of the city of CONCEPCION and 325km south-west of the capital SANTIAGO. It is the biggest to hit Chile in 50 years.

Local journalists in the region of Maule said 85 had died there.

Deaths were also in reported in the regions of Santiago, O'Higgins, Biobio, Araucania and Valparaiso.

National television said it estimated that at least 150 people had been killed.

Television pictures showed a major bridge at Concepcion had collapsed into the Biobio river.

Rescue teams are finding it difficult to reach Concepcion because of damage to infrastructure, national television reported.

AFTERSHOCKS

In Santiago, where at least 13 people were killed, several buildings collapsed - including a car park where dozens of cars were smashed.

A fire at a chemical plant in the outskirts of the capital forced the evacuation of the neighbourhood.

Damage to Santiago international airport's terminal will keep it closed for at least 72 hours, officials said. Flights are being diverted to Mendoza in Argentina.

President Michelle Bachelet declared a "STATE OF CATASTROPHE" in affected areas and appealed for calm.

She said: "We're doing everything we can with all the forces we have."

Ms Bachelet said a "wave of large proportion" had affected the Juan Fernandez island group, reaching halfway into one inhabited area. Local media say that between three and 13 people are missing.

Two aid ships are reported to be on their way.

One resident of Chillan, 100km from the epicentre, told Chilean television the shaking there lasted about two minutes.

Other residents of Chillan and Curico said communications were down but running water was still available.

Many of Chile's news websites and radio stations are still not accessible.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said the US had aid resources in position to deploy should the Chilean government ask for help.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the earthquake struck at a depth of about 35km.

It also recorded at least eight AFTERSHOCKS, the largest of 6.9 magnitude at 0801 GMT.

The USGS said tsunami effects had been observed at Valparaiso, west of Santiago, with a wave height of 1.69m above normal sea level.

One journalist speaking to Chilean national television from the city of Temuco, 600km south of Santiago, said many people there had left their homes, determined to spend the rest of the night outside. Some people on the streets were in tears.
Chile is highly vulnerable to earthquakes as it is situated on the Pacific "Rim of Fire", on the edge of the Pacific and South American plates.

CHILE suffered the BIGGEST EARTHQUAKE OF THE 20th CENTURY when a 9.5 magnitude QUAKE struck the city of VALDIVIA in 1960, KILLING 1,655 PEOPLE.

Nations affected by the Pacific "Rim of Fire" have all sounded alerts, trying to estimate the anticipated time of arrival of any tsunami.

'URGENT ACTION'

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has said there may be "widespread damage" from high waves.

"Authorities should take appropriate action in response to this threat," it said.
Large waves are reported to have struck Chile's Juan Fernandez island group, reaching halfway into one inhabited area. Three people there are missing, local media say. Two aid ships are reported to be on their way.

Part of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia were hit by a 4m (13ft) wave, but no casualties were reported, AFP news agency said.

It has been difficult to estimate the possible wave heights of any tsunami - the waves may not arrive at all or could be as high as 10 metres above normal sea level.

In TAHITI, traffic was banned on roads less than 500m from sea, and residents on low-lying land were told to get to higher ground, but the first tsunami waves were smaller there, measuring only 36cm.

NEW ZEALAND has warned waves up to 3m could hit the main North and South Islands plus outlying islands.

Waves measuring 20cm hit the Chatham Islands, about 400 miles from the mainland, about 1905 GMT, but the Ministry of Civil Defence warned that "the greatest wave heights will occur between six and 12 hours after the initial arrivals."

American SAMOA has urged residents to seek shelter, calling on coastal villagers to seek higher ground.

Sirens were sounded in HAWAII to alert residents to the tsunami threat several hours before waves were expected.

A massive earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 has hit central Chile, killing dozens of people.

Although phone communication out of Chile has been difficult, people have been contacting the BBC via email and Twitter. Below are some of the responses we've been sent.

The quake seemed to last more than two minutes in Santiago. Buildings seemed to resist the quake very well. Communications are very difficult and there is no power in most parts of the city. In my building at least there is no water supply service either. We drove through a built-up part of the city this morning and it seems to have survived without major inconveniences.Jose L Cruz, Santiago

It was tremendous; the buildings were literally dancing in the air; I've driven through the old downtown and there's no relevant damage, but there are some collapsed bridges. I'm worried about the people who lives near Concepcion, because their comunications are broken down, so no one knows about the damage of a earthquake of that magnitude.
I think what would happen if an earthquake like this takes place in middle east; thanks god we are prepared for any disaster of that type.Nicolas, Santiago, Chile

We are in Santiago. Quake lasted about thirty seconds. Buildings shook violently. Seem to all have withstood structural damage but there is broken glass. Interior damage worse. Was terrifying. People still out on streets. Electricity down in many areas and no phones. We crouched in bathtub on fourteenth floor during the quake while things smashed around us. Still getting after tremors.Charlotte Mountford, Santiago

Yes, I felt it at 3:40am, we were in bed but woke up with the shaking. We all went outside and stood below a door frame and it lasted quite some time and we have felt a number of aftershocks since. We had no electricity or phones although but power has now been restored. I still can't contact all our family in Concepcion because it seems that none of the mobile or fixed phones seem to be working. I am now sitting in bed with clothes and shoes on just in case...Jessica Rodriguez, Santiago, Chile

I am in the La Reina/Las Condes area of Santiago. It's OK on our few streets - lasted about two minutes. It's 0430 now and roads mad with traffic and everyone out in streets fearing aftershocks.Andy, Santiago

I am a university professor that lives in Santiago. This is a massive earthquake since 1986 and the cities resisted well and communications by internet 3G are fine but not mobile phones yet. Santiago seems quiet with a brilliant moon.Cristian Bonacic, Santiago

Things were certainly moving a bit, but no structural damage visible. Some fires could be seen in the distance. No electricity at the moment or phone lines, but apart from that, so far not so bad.Mark Winstanley, Vina Del Mar, West of Santiago

We have also been shaken at this side of the Andes in Argentina. We could feel it for about one minute and again after 10 minutes. There was no panic but I guess this has been the strongest we have had in many years.Diego, Mendoza, Argentina

I live in Mendoza and the earthquake was felt pretty strongly here. I am listening to the radio and it was felt in other provinces like San Luis , Neuquen and Cordaba too.Graciela Martin, Mendoza, Argentina

Right here in Pergamino (200km north of Buenos Aires and about 1800km from Concepcion, Chile) we were at 0345 in the living room, when suddenly we started to see the very big lamp hanging from the ceiling started to move very fast making circles.Enzo, Pergamino, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Roskilde 5 July 2009

Herning 16 August 2009

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TALCA, Chile – One of the largest earthquakes ever recorded tore apart houses, bridges and highways in central Chile on Saturday and sent a tsunami racing halfway around the world. Chileans near the epicenter were tossed about as if shaken by a giant, and authorities said at least 214 people were dead.

The magnitude-8.8 QUAKE was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) to the east. The full extent of damage remained unclear as scores of AFTERSHOCKS — one nearly as powerful as Haiti's devastating Jan. 12 earthquake — shuddered across the DISASTER-PRONE ANDEAN NATION.

President Michelle Bachelet declared a "STATE OF CATASTROPHE" in central Chile but said the government has not asked for assistance from other countries. If it does, President Barack Obama said, the United States "will be there." Around the world, leaders echoed his sentiment.

In Chile, newly built apartment buildings slumped and fell. Flames devoured a prison. Millions of people fled into streets darkened by the failure of power lines. The collapse of bridges tossed and crushed cars and trucks, and complicated efforts to reach quake-damaged areas by road.

At least 214 PEOPLE were KILLED, according to Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma, and officials said about 1.5 million homes suffered at least some damage.

In Talca, just 65 miles (105 kilometers) from the epicenter, people sleeping in bed suddenly felt like they were flying through major airplane turbulence as their belongings cascaded around them from the shuddering walls at 3:34 a.m. (1:34 a.m. EST, 0634 GMT).

A deafening roar rose from the convulsing earth as buildings groaned and clattered. The sound of screams was confused with the crash of plates and windows.

Then the earth stilled, silence returned and a smell of moist dust rose in the streets, where stunned survivors took refuge.

A journalist emerging into the darkened street scattered with downed power lines saw a man, some of his own bones apparently broken, weeping and caressing the hand of a woman who had died in the collapse of a cafe. Two other victims lay dead a few feet (meters) away.
Also near the epicenter was CONCEPCION, one of the country's largest cities, where a 15-story building collapsed, leaving a few floors intact.

"I was on the 8th floor and all of a sudden I was down here," said Fernando Abarzua, marveling that he escaped with no major injuries. He said a relative was still trapped in the rubble six hours after the quake, "but he keeps shouting, saying he's OK."

Chilean state television reported that 209 inmates escaped from prison in the city of Chillan, near the epicenter, after a fire broke out.

In the capital of Santiago, 200 miles (325 kilometers) to the northeast, a car dangled from a collapsed overpass, the national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars whose alarms rang incessantly.

While most modern buildings survived, a bell tower collapsed on the Nuestra Senora de la Providencia church and several hospitals were evacuated due to damage.

Santiago's airport was closed, with smashed windows, partially collapsed ceilings and destroyed pedestrian walkways in the passenger terminals. The capital's subway was shut as well, and transportation was further limited because hundreds of buses were stuck behind a damaged bridge.

Chile's main seaport, in Valparaiso about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from Santiago, was ordered closed while damage was assessed. The state-run Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, shut two of its mines, the newspaper La Tercera reported.

The jolt set off a TSUNAMI that swamped San Juan Bautista village on Robinson Crusoe Island off Chile, KILLING AT LEAST FIVE PEOPLE and LEAVING 11 MISSING, said Guillermo de la Masa, head of the government emergency bureau for the Valparaiso region. He said the huge waves also damaged several government buildings on the island.

It then raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens in Hawaii, Polynesia and Tonga and prompting warnings across all 53 nations ringing the vast ocean.

Tsunami waves washed across Hawaii, where little damage was reported. The U.S. Navy moved a half-dozen vessels out of Pearl Harbor as a precaution, Navy spokesman Lt. Myers Vasquez said. Shore-side Hilo International Airport was closed. In CALIFORNIA, officials said a 3-foot (1-meter) surge in Ventura Harbor pulled loose several navigational buoys.

About 13 million people live in the area where shaking was strong to severe, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. USGS geophysicist Robert Williams said the Chilean quake was hundreds of times more powerful than Haiti's magnitude-7 quake, though it was deeper and cost far fewer lives.

More than 50 AFTERSHOCKS topped magnitude 5, including one of magnitude 6.9.

The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area of Chile on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left 2 million homeless. It caused a tsunami that killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and caused damage along the west coast of the United States.

Saturday's quake matched a 1906 temblor off the Ecuadorean coast as the seventh-strongest ever recorded in the world.

Associated Press writer Roberto Candia reported this story from Talca and Eva Vergara from Santiago. AP writers Eduardo Gallardo in Santiago and Sandy Kozel in Washington contributed to this report.

Chile earthquake on 27.2.10 and resulting tsunami

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN CHILE AND ARTICLES IN RELATION TO CHILE EARTHQUAKE ON 28 FEBRUARY 2O1O

BBC WORLD NEWS:

CHILE QUAKE AFFECTS TWO MILLION, SAYS PRESIDENT BACHELET

Two million people have been affected by the massive earthquake that struck central Chile on Saturday, President Michelle Bachelet has said.

In a TV address, she said the forces of nature were testing the nation.

So far at least 300 people have been confirmed killed in the earthquake that struck in the early hours of Saturday.

The 8.8 quake - one of the biggest ever - triggered a tsunami that has been sweeping across the Pacific, although waves were not as high as predicted. "The forces of nature have badly affected our country," Ms Bachelet said.

"And once again they've put to the test our ability to deal with adversity and get back on our feet. And we are examining every way to restore all the basic services in the country. But there's still a lot to do.

Ms Bachelet added that she had declared a state of catastrophe in six regions.
Chile is vulnerable to earthquakes, being situated on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where the Pacific and South American plates meet.

The earthquake struck at 06:34 GMT, 115km (70 miles) north-east of the city of Concepcion and 325km south-west of the capital Santiago at a depth of about 35km. It is the biggest to hit Chile in 50 years.

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Widespread damage to roads and buildings has been reported in many areas, including the capital where a chemical plant caught fire.

Electricity, water and phone lines have been cut.

At least 85 people died in the region of Maule alone, journalists there reported.
Many deaths were also reported in the regions of Santiago, O'Higgins, Biobio, Araucania and Valparaiso.

TV pictures showed a major bridge at Concepcion had collapsed into the Biobio river.

Rescue teams are struggling to reach Concepcion because of damage to infrastructure, national media reported.

In Santiago, where at least 13 people were killed, several buildings collapsed - including a car park.

A fire at a chemical plant in the outskirts of the capital forced the evacuation of the neighbourhood.

Santiago international airport's terminal was damaged and will be closed for at least 72 hours, officials said. Flights are being diverted to Mendoza in Argentina.

A tsunami triggered by the earthquake struck the Juan Fernandez island group off the Chilean coast and local media say five people died there with several others missing.

As the tsunami radiated across the Pacific, Japan warned that a wave of 3m (10ft) or higher could hit the Pacific coast of its northernmost island of Hokkaido at about 1300 local time (0400 GMT).

In French Polynesia, waves 6ft (1.8m) high swept ashore, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

Hawaii later lifted its tsunami warning after waves measuring just under 1m (3ft) high struck but caused no damage.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said tsunami effects had been observed at Valparaiso, west of Santiago, with a wave height of 1.69m above normal sea level.

The USGS also recorded at least eight aftershocks, the largest of 6.9 magnitude at 0801 GMT.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said the US was ready to help if the Chilean government required it.

CHILE SUFFERED THE BIGGEST EARTHQUAKE OF THE 20th CENTURY when a 9.5 magnitude QUAKE STRUCK the city of VALDIVIA in 1960, KILLING 1,655 PEOPLE.

Roskilde 5 July 2009

Herning 16 August 2009

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Chile earthquake / news on 28 February 2010

Danish TV2: 320,000 people were evacuated in Japan. There have been up to 120 cm high tidal waves in Japan. The Eastern part of Russia was hit by waves, but the waves were not so violent as feared.

Danish DR1:115 POWERFUL AFTERHOCKS IN CHILE1.5 million houses and buildings have been destroyed. There are no reports of people killed due to powerful aftershocks. The USGS encourages the people living in the most affected areas to sleep outdoors and not in extremely damaged buildings.

Swedish SVT Text:More than 400 dead in the earthquake in Chile. More than 2 million affected by the earthquake. 115 powerful aftershocks with magnitudes between 4.9 and 6.9 on the Richter scale according to US Geological Surveys (USGS).

Swedish SVT Text:THE TOWN OR CITY OF CURICÓ IN RUINS. Curicó south of the capital Santiago dates back to 17xx.90% of the Curicó’s historical buildings have been levelled corresponding to 60% of Curicó according to a reporter from Radio Estacion Uno de Curicó. As many as 50 people died in the province.

Swedish SVT Text and Danish DR1 and TV2:Hundred people captured under the rubble of a 14-storey or 15-storey building (collapsed apartment block) in Concepcion situated in southern Chile which suffered severe damage in the quake. Concepcion’s mayor criticizes Chile’s government for a too slow response to Saturday’s disaster.

Swedish SVT Text:The situation in the coastal town of Constitucion between Concepcion and Santiago / Valparaiso is unknown. There have been rumours of the situation there being critical after being hit by “an 8 m tall wave according to Tercera.

Roskilde 5 July 2009

Herning 16 August 2009

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Chile earthquake / news on 28 February 2010 from BBC WORLD NEWS

The DEATH TOLL from Chile's earthquake has more than doubled to 708 and is expected to rise further, President Michelle Bachelet has said.

Previously about 300 people were estimated to have been killed in Saturday's 8.8 magnitude quake - one of the most powerful recorded.
Massive damage is hampering rescue teams as they struggle to reach those still buried in the rubble. However a Pacific-wide alert for a tsunami has been lifted. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Ms Bachelet said: "The catastrophe is enormous. The latest number I have is 708 dead." She said 541 had died in Maule region, 64 in Biobio and 103 and other regions.
She added that the number of people missing was growing.
Earlier, President Bachelet said two million people had been affected by the earthquake. Many Chileans in affected areas have spent the first night since the earthquake outdoors, afraid to stay inside. In the central city of Concepcion, in the worst-hit area, police used tear gas and water cannon against looters at a supermarket.
The mayor of the city said food was running out and the situation was getting out of control. Officials said 25 people were rescued from a collapsed building in Concepcion, but dozens who were believed to have been trapped inside were still unaccounted for.

During Sunday's news conference, Ms Bachelet announced a series of emergency steps:
The Maule and Concepcion regions are being placed under special rules to speed up the delivery of aid.
The air force will fly supplies to both areas and the military will take a leading role in distributing them
In Maule and Biobio basic goods will be handed out free of charge. Distribution points are yet to be decided.
Electricity is a big concern and the government is working to guarantee distribution Santiago's airport has reopened, with a total of five international flight due to arrive on Sunday. It had been closed because of damage to the terminal and control tower.

Tsunami reaches Japanese coast A tsunami more than one metre (3 feet) high has hit Japan's northern Pacific coast, nearly 24 hours after the powerful earthquake in Chile.
Thousands of people were earlier told to leave coastal areas after predictions bigger waves could strike.
Other Pacific nations were hit by tsunamis, but the danger is now thought to have passed.

In Chile, the town of Talcahuano was badly damaged while five people were killed on the Juan Fernandez islands.
Fishing boats there were thrown out of the water in Talcahuano, and port facilities were damaged by a wave that US scientists said was 2.34m high.
The town lies about 115km (70 miles) south-west of the epicentre of Saturday's powerful earthquake.
Large waves struck Chile's Juan Fernandez island group, reaching halfway into one inhabited area and killing five people. Several more are missing.
Two aid ships are reported to be on their way.

Well preparedWarning systems across the Pacific have improved since the 2004 Indonesia quake sparked a tsunami that killed nearly 250,000 people.
Nations and regions affected by the Pacific "Ring of Fire" all sounded alerts, trying to estimate the anticipated time of arrival of any tsunami following the earthquake, which struck on Saturday at 0634 GMT.
The first tsunami waves to reach Japan were reported to be just 10cm high, with a wave of 90cm following.
Officials later lifted a tsunami warning for Japan's coast, the first issued in more than 15 years.
The BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo says Japan has experienced many earthquakes of its own and was well prepared. People in areas at risk were ordered to move to higher ground, train services running along the coast were suspended and steel gates across fishing harbours were shut.In 1960 about 140 people were killed by a tsunami in Japan after a major earthquake in Chile. Thousands of people also left coastal areas of the Philippines after warnings of a possible tsunami were spread by text message.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had warned of "widespread damage" across the region following Saturday's quake, but later said waves were not as high as predicted. A geophysicist at the centre, Gerard Fryer, told the BBC that the tsunami's impact was small because the earthquake occurred in shallow water.
The earthquake was "big enough to do significant damage, but not big enough to do anything large in the far field", he said.

'Ordinary stormy day'Part of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia were hit by a 4m (13ft) wave, but no casualties were reported.
In Tahiti, the tsunami waves were smaller, causing little damage.
New Zealand's Chatham Islands were hit by a wave of 1.5m and areas along the main North and South Islands experienced small surges with no reports of casualties or serious damage. The tsunami warning has been downgraded there but the emergency management department spokesman said there could still be waves of up to 3m.
Sirens were sounded in Hawaii to alert residents to the tsunami threat several hours before waves were expected.
The first waves hit about 2200 GMT on Saturday, after water began moving away from the shore at Hilo Bay on the Big Island before returning.
But correspondents say that, although 8ft (2.5m) waves had been predicted, the islands experienced nothing noticeably different from an ordinary stormy day.
Hawaiian officials later lifted the tsunami warning.
Despite Australian warnings of "possible dangerous waves, strong ocean currents and foreshore flooding" on the east coast, swimmers and surfers flocked to Sydney's Bondi beach.

FROM OTHER NEWS SITESFinancial Times: More than 700 killed in Chilean quake
Telegraph: Chile earthquake: death toll climbs to 400
Bangkok Post: Japan well prepared for tsunami
The Independent Rescuers battle to save Chile earthquake victims

irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Sunday, February 28, 2010, 18:06DEATH TOLL IN CHILE QUAKE RISES TO MORE THAN 750

The death toll from yesterday's 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile continued to rise today, with officials estimating more than 750 casualties.More than 350 people were killed in the coastal town of CONSTITUCION, which was also hit by a tsunami, state television quoted emergency officials as saying.Television images from the fishing port of Constitucion, about 350 km (220 miles) southwest of the capital Santiago, showed houses destroyed by the quake and a tsunami, which had washed large fishing boats onto land and flipped over cars.
The death toll from Saturday's 8.8-magnitude quake already stood at 400 before news of the devastation in Constitucion.Chileans fearful of aftershocks camped outside today, as officials struggled to grasp the scale of damage to transport, energy and housing infrastructure. Two million people in Chile have been affected by the earthquake, said president Michelle Bachelet, adding that it would take officials several days to evaluate the "enormous quantity of damage".Around 100 people are trapped under the rubble of a building that collapsed in the city of CONCEPCION in south-central Chile, the mayor said today.

Tsunami waves killed at least four people on Chile's Juan Fernandez islands and caused serious damage to the port town of Talcahuano.Tsunami waves of up to 1.5 metres (5 ft) hit far-flung Pacific regions from the Russian far east and Japan to New Zealand's Chatham Islands today in the wake of one of the world's most powerful tremors in a century.

Hundreds of thousands of residents in JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND, the PHILIPPINES and RUSSIA's Kamchatka were told to evacuate after the quake but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) put the country's highest tsunami so far at 1.2 metres in the port of Kuji, northeast Japan. Smaller waves hit a swathe of the country from the small island of Minamitori 1,950 km (1,200 miles) south of Tokyo to Hokkaido island in the north.

Japanese officials have ordered or advised some 570,000 households along the country's Pacific coast to evacuate and said it would be hours before evacuees could go home.

"The full-fledged tsunami waves are starting to arrive," University of Tokyo professor Yoshinobu Tsuji told NHK public TV. "This is not the last one," he said.

It was Japan's first major tsunami warning in 17 years and only the fourth since 1952, the Japan Meteorological Agency said."Carelessness could be the biggest enemy," prime minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters.

Train services were halted in many areas along the Pacific coast and many highways were closed. Two nuclear plants in the area were operating normally and Japan's Nippon Oil Corp said its 145,000 barrel-per-day Sendai refinery was also functioning as usual.

Police cars and fire trucks patrolled coastal roads and fishing boats, seeking to avoid any tsunami, headed out to sea under gray skies, with snow flurries in some areas.

The area that could be hit hardest, where around 140 people died in a previous tsunami 50 years ago, has many small harbours that could concentrate the force of a tsunami.

"We experienced tsunami 50 years ago. But it sounded like it could be worse this time, so I was afraid," said 69-year old Fumiko Nakajima in a fishing town on the outskirts of Sendai. She said the evacuation of residents, many of whom are elderly, went smoothly due to frequent drills.

The tsunami warning covered the eastern seaboard of Japan, although for Tokyo Bay and many other areas the warnings were for waves of only around one metre (3 ft).

The first waves to hit New Zealand were reported at the remote Chatham Islands, around 800km (500 miles) east of New Zealand, with surges of up to 1.5 metres measured, the Civil Defence Ministry said.

A resident on one of the smaller islands in the group, Pitt, said the surges were continuing and getting bigger.

"The bay empties right out. It takes about a minute and a half and then it surges back in, in about the same amount of time," Bernadette Malinson told Radio New Zealand. "The surges have been getting bigger - at least 2 metres at present."

Authorities in Russia's far eastern Kamchatka region lifted a tsunami alert after a series of small waves appeared to cause no damage, a spokeswoman for the Emergencies Ministry said.

A tsunami hit beaches in eastern Australian but there were not initial reports of damage.
Australia issued a tsunami alert for most of its east coast and eastern parts of the island state of Tasmania, but authorities said there were no concerns about major inundation.

Hawaii dodged serious damage yesterday when a tsunami merely lapped ashore, although residents were warned to stay away from coastal areas because the ocean could remain unsettled for several more hours.
Reuters

Roskilde 5 July 2009

Herning 16 August 2009

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Chile earthquake / news on 28 February 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The earthquake in Chile was far stronger than the one that struck Haiti last month — yet the death toll in this Caribbean nation is magnitudes higher.

The reasons are simple.

Chile is wealthier and infinitely better prepared, with strict building codes, robust emergency response and a long history of handling seismic catastrophes. No living Haitian had experienced a quake at home when the Jan. 12 disaster crumbled their poorly constructed buildings.

And Chile was relatively lucky this time.

Saturday's quake was centered offshore an estimated 21 miles (34 kilometers) underground in a relatively unpopulated area while Haiti's tectonic mayhem struck closer to the surface — about 8 miles (13 kilometers) — and right on the edge of Port-au-Prince, factors that increased its destructiveness.

The U.S. Geological Survey says eight Haitian cities and towns — including this capital of 3 million — suffered "violent" to "extreme" shaking in last month's 7-magnitude quake, which Haiti's government estimates killed some 220,000 people. Chile's death toll was in the hundreds.

By contrast, no Chilean urban area suffered more than "severe" shaking — the third most serious level — Saturday in its 8.8-magnitude disaster, by USGS measure. The quake was centered 200 miles (325 kms) away from Chile's capital and largest city, Santiago.

In terms of energy released at the epicenter, the Chilean quake was 501 times stronger.But energy dissipates rather quickly as distances grow from epicenters — and the ground beneath Port-au-Prince is less stable by comparison and "shakes like jelly," says University of Miami geologist Tim Dixon.

Survivors of Haiti's quake described abject panic — much of it well-founded as buildings imploded around them. Many Haitians grabbed cement pillars only to watch them crumble in their hands. Haitians were not schooled in how to react — by sheltering under tables and door frames, and away from glass windows.

Chileans, on the other hand, have homes and offices built to ride out quakes, their steel skeletons designed to sway with seismic waves rather than resist them.

"When you look at the architecture in Chile you see buildings that have damage, but not the complete pancaking that you've got in Haiti," said Cameron Sinclair, executive director of Architecture for Humanity, a 10-year-old nonprofit that has helped people in 36 countries rebuild after disasters.

Sinclair said he has architect colleagues in Chile who have built thousands of low-income housing structures to be earthquake resistant.

In Haiti, by contrast, there is no building code.

Patrick Midy, a leading Haitian architect, said he knew of only three earthquake-resistant buildings in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.

Sinclair's San Francisco-based organization received 400 requests for help the day after the Haiti quake but he said it had yet to receive a single request for help for Chile.

"On a per-capita basis, Chile has more world-renowned seismologists and earthquake engineers than anywhere else," said Brian E. Tucker, president of GeoHazards International, a nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto, California.

Their advice is heeded by the government in Latin America's wealthiest nation, getting built not just into architects' blueprints and building codes but also into government contingency planning.

"The fact that the president (Michelle Bachelet) was out giving minute-to-minute reports a few hours after the quake in the middle of the night gives you an indication of their disaster response," said Sinclair.

Most Haitians didn't know whether their president, Rene Preval, was alive or dead for at least a day after the quake. The National Palace and his residence — like most government buildings — had collapsed.

Haiti's TV, cell phone networks and radio stations were knocked off the air by the seismic jolt.

Col. Hugo Rodriguez, commander of the Chilean aviation unit attached to the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti, waited anxiously Saturday with his troops for word from loved ones at home.

He said he knew his family was OK and expressed confidence that Chile would ride out the disaster.

"We are organized and prepared to deal with a crisis, particularly a natural disaster," Rodriguez said. "Chile is a country where there are a lot of natural disasters." Calais, the geologist, noted that frequent seismic activity is as common to Chile as it is to the rest of the Andean ridge. Chile experienced the strongest earthquake on record in 1960, and Saturday's quake was the nation's third of over magnitude-8.7.

"It's quite likely that every person there has felt a major earthquake in their lifetime," he said, "whereas the last one to hit Port-au-Prince was 250 years ago." "So who remembers?" On Port-au-Prince's streets Saturday, many people had not heard of Chile's quake. More than half a million are homeless, most still lack electricity and are preoccupied about trying to get enough to eat.

Fanfan Bozot, a 32-year-old reggae singer having lunch with a friend, could only shake his head at his government's reliance on international relief to distribute food and water.

"Chile has a responsible government," he said, waving his hand in disgust. "Our government is incompetent." — AP

CHILE ASSESSES DAMAGE FROM MAMMOTH EARTHQUAKE

02/28/2010 | 05:24 PM

TALCA, Chile — A weeping man strokes the hand of a dead woman in a collapsed cafe. Survivors huddle around bonfires in the rubble of their homes. Smashed cars lie beneath bridges torn asunder by one of history's strongest earthquakes.

Authorities in Chile put the official death toll from Saturday's 8.8-magnitude quake at 214, but said they believed the number would grow. They said 1.5 million Chileans were affected and 500,000 homes severely damaged by the mammoth temblor.

"We think the real [death] figure tops 300 and we believe this will continue to grow," said Carmen Fernandez, head of the National Emergency Agency.

President Michelle Bachelet, who leaves office on March 11, declared a "STATE OF CATASTROPHE" in central Chile. "It was a catastrophe of devastating consequences," she said.

Bachelet said the government had not asked for assistance from other countries. If it does, President Barack Obama said, the United States "will be there." Around the world, leaders echoed his sentiment.

As night fell Saturday, about a dozen men and children sat around a bonfire in the remains of their homes in Curico, a town 122 miles (196 kms) south of the capital, Santiago.

"We were sleeping when we felt the quake, very strongly. I got up and went out the door. When I looked back my bed was covered in rubble," said survivor Claudio Palma.

Fabian Miners, 22, was put in charge of tallying damages in Curico and surrounding villages. He said he had counted 90 deaths in the area, mainly people over 50 or 60 who could not get out of their falling adobe-walled homes in time.

Erika Vasquez, 28, said she and 14 of her relatives were sheltering under three small tarpaulins in the park in front of their collapsed home.

"They told us to go somewhere else, but all our things are here," said Vasquez, pointing at the rubble of what had been the family's home for 44 years.

The quake tore apart houses, bridges and highways, and Chileans near the epicenter were thrown from their beds by the force of the mega-quake, which was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) to the east.

The full extent of damage remained unclear as dozens of AFTERSHOCKS — one nearly as powerful as Haiti's devastating Jan. 12 earthquake — shuddered across the disaster-prone Andean nation.

The quake caused newly built apartment buildings to slump and fall. Power lines collapsed. Falling bridges tossed cars and trucks like toys.

In Talca, just 65 miles (105 kilometers) from the epicenter, people sleeping in bed suddenly felt like they were flying through airplane turbulence as their belongings cascaded down around them when the quake hit at 3:34 a.m.

A deafening roar rose from the convulsing earth as buildings groaned and clattered. The sound of screams mixed with the crash of plates and windows. Then the earth stilled and stunned survivors began streaming outside.

A journalist emerging into the darkened street scattered with downed power lines saw a man, some of his own bones apparently broken, weeping and caressing the hand of a woman who had died in a cafe. Two other victims lay dead a few feet (meters) away.

Also near the epicenter was CONCEPCION, one of the country's largest cities, where a 15-STORY BUILDING COLLAPSED, leaving a few floors intact.

In the capital Santiago, 200 miles (325 kilometers) to the northeast, the national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars.

Santiago's airport was closed and its subway shut down. Chile's main seaport, in Valparaiso, was ordered closed while damage was assessed.Two oil refineries shut down. The state-run Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, halted work at two of its mines, but said it expected them to resume operations quickly.

The jolt set off a TSUNAMI that SWAMPED SAN JUAN BAUTISTA VILLAGE on ROBINSON CRUSOE ISLAND off Chile, killing at least five people and leaving 11 missing, said Guillermo de la Masa, head of the government emergency bureau for the Valparaiso region.

On the mainland, several huge waves inundated part of the major port city of Talcahuano, near hard-hit Concepcion. A large boat was swept more than a block inland.

The surge of water raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens in Hawaii, Polynesia and Tonga, but the tsunami waves proved small and did little damage as they reached as far as Japan.

Robert Williams, a geophysicist at the US Geological Survey, said the CHILEAN QUAKE was hundreds of times MORE POWERFUL THAN HAITI's magnitude-7 QUAKE, though it was deeper and cost far fewer lives.

The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area of CHILE on MAY 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 QUAKE KILLED 1,655 people and made 2 MILLION HOMELESS. Saturday's quake matched a 1906 temblor off the Ecuadorean coast as the seventh-strongest ever recorded in the world. — AP

RESCUERS STRUGGLE TO SAVE LIVES AFTER CHILE QUAKE

02/28/2010 | 08:07 PM

CONCEPCION, Chile – Rescuers edged their way toward residents trapped in a toppled apartment block early Sunday and survivors huddled around bonfires in the rubble of their homes as the death toll in Chile continued to rise after one of the strongest earthquakes in history.

Authorities put the official death toll from Saturday's 8.8-magnitude QUAKE at 214, but said they believed the number would grow. They said 1.5 million Chileans were affected and 500,000 homes severely damaged by the mammoth temblor.

A tsunami caused by the quake that swept across the Pacific killed several people on a Chilean island but caused little damage in other countries. The tsunami warning was lifted a day after the earthquake.

President Michelle Bachelet, who leaves office March 11, declared a "state of catastrophe" in central Chile. "It was a catastrophe of devastating consequences," she said.

Police said MORE THAN 100 PEOPLE DIED IN CONCEPCION, the largest city near the epicenter with more than 200,000 people. The university was among the buildings that caught fire around the city as gas and power lines snapped. Many streets were littered with rubble from edifices, inmates escaped from a nearby prison and police warned that criminals had been looting stores.

The largest single damage involved a newly opened 11-story building that toppled backward, trapping an estimated 60 people inside apartments where the floors suddenly became vertical and the contents of every room slammed down onto rear walls.

"It fell at the moment the earthquake began," said 4th Lt. Juan Schulmeyer of Concepcion's 7th Firefighter Company, pointing to where the foundation collapsed. A full 24 hours later, only 16 people had been pulled out alive, and six bodies had been recovered.

Rescuers heard a woman call out at 11 p.m. Saturday from what seemed like the 6th floor, but hours later they were making slow progress in reaching her. Rescuers were working with two power saws and an electric hammer on a generator, but their supply of gas was running out and it was taking them a frustrating hour and a half to cut each hole through the concrete.

"It's very difficult working in the dark with AFTERSHOCKS, and inside it's complicated. The apartments are totally destroyed. You have to work with great caution," said Paulo Klein, who was leading a group of rescue specialists from Puerto Montt. They flew in on an air force plane with just the equipment they could carry. Heavy equipment was coming later along with 12 other rescuers.

The quake tore apart houses, bridges and highways, and Chileans near the epicenter were thrown from their beds by the force of the mega-quake, which was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) to the east.

The full extent of damage remained unclear as dozens of aftershocks — one nearly as powerful as Haiti's devastating Jan. 12 earthquake — shuddered across the disaster-prone Andean nation.

In the village of Reumen, a tractor trailer slammed into a dangling pedestrian overpass and 40 tons of concrete and steel crunched the truck, covering Chile's main highway with smashed grapes, tomatoes and cucumbers. The overpass was one of four that reporters saw that had been toppled along the highway.

Truck driver Jaime Musso, 53, thought his truck was being buffeted by strong winds and by the time he saw the overpass hanging down over Highway 5 there was no chance of stopping, so he aimed for the spot where he thought he would cause the least damage and brought down the overpass onto his truck. He said he survived "by millimeters."

As night fell Saturday, about a dozen men and children sat around a bonfire in the remains of their homes in Curico, a town 122 miles (196 kilometers) south of the capital, Santiago.

"We were sleeping when we felt the quake, very strongly. I got up and went out the door. When I looked back my bed was covered in rubble," said survivor Claudio Palma.

In the capital Santiago, 200 miles (325 kilometers) to the northeast of the epicenter, the national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars.

Santiago's airport was closed and its subway shut down. Chile's main seaport, in Valparaiso, was ordered closed while damage was assessed. Two oil refineries shut down. The state-run Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, halted work at two of its mines, but said it expected them to resume operations quickly.

The jolt set off a tsunami that swamped San Juan Bautista village on Robinson Crusoe Island off Chile, killing at least five people and leaving 11 missing, said Guillermo de la Masa, head of the government emergency bureau for the Valparaiso region.

On the mainland, several huge waves inundated part of the major port city of Talcahuano, near hard-hit Concepcion. A large boat was swept more than a block inland.

The surge of water raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens in Hawaii, Polynesia and Tonga, but the tsunami waves proved small and did little damage as they reached as far as Japan.

Robert Williams, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey, said the Chilean quake was hundreds of times more powerful than Haiti's magnitude-7 quake, though it was deeper and cost far fewer lives.

The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area of Chile on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and made 2 million homeless. Saturday's quake matched a 1906 temblor off the Ecuadorean coast as the seventh-strongest ever recorded in the world.
– AP

Roskilde 5 July 2009

Herning 16 August 2009

HELP CHILE AND HAITI by making DONATIONS to ONE OF THESE RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS:

Although the quake struck at 3.30 in the morning, I was still awake, enjoying a party with friends in a beach house some 200km (125 miles) north-west of the capital, Santiago.

What struck me was not so much the intensity of the quake but its duration.
It started as an almost indiscernible trembling of the glasses and the furniture in the room, and it grew and grew for what seemed like an eternity.

The lights went out and we realised this was no minor tremor.

We ran out of the house, heading for open space.

Every car alarm in the street was sounding; the trees were quivering and I remember looking up and seeing the telephone lines swaying back and forth as if blown by a gale force wind.

It felt like we were at the epicentre, and it was only hours later that we found out that the real eye of the storm was around 500km further south, close to Chile's second city, Concepcion.

If we felt it this strongly here, what must it have felt like at the epicentre, I wondered.

SILENT AND DARK

Later, I made it back from the coast to Santiago, through Chile's main port of Valparaiso.

There, piles of rubble littered the streets and people had largely deserted the lower reaches of the city, fearing a tsunami.

In Santiago itself, whole areas of the city were still in darkness; tower blocks, usually ablaze with light after dusk, were spookily dark, with no electricity and no running water.

There were cars on the streets, but not many, and their owners were driving cautiously through a city suddenly deprived of its traffic lights.

I drove past my local church - largely intact, but missing its dome, which had crashed to the ground when the quake struck.

I reached my apartment building, silent and dark.

The door was hanging off its hinges, there were cracks in the walls, and flakes of plaster littered the floor. No light, no running water - a pattern repeated across this city of six million people.

But here in Santiago we can count ourselves lucky. Television images from the cities of CONCEPCION, CONSTITUTION, TALCAHUANO and CURICÓ, close to epicentre, show just how devastating this quake has been.

Highways have been sliced in two and road bridges have collapsed.
It's still not clear how many people have died or what the extent of the damage is.

President Michelle Bachelet has spoken to the nation and confirmed that two million people - an eighth of the population - have been affected by the quake which, with a magnitude of 8.8, was one of the strongest recorded.

More than 300 have died and many more are missing.

Fortunately, the Chileans are good at dealing with earthquakes. They have to be: they have a long history of them.

Help has been reaching the stricken areas of the south and Santiago is just about functioning again.

But even so, it will be weeks, if not months, before the country returns to anything like normality, and for some areas, it will take much, much longer than that.

CHILE TROOPS TACKLE QUAKE LOOTERS

The Chilean military is attempting to restore order in the country's second city, Concepcion, amid looting after Saturday's devastating earthquake.

Troops have fired tear gas at looters attempting to flee with food and other goods from wrecked stores, as a major rescue effort is under way in the city.
The death toll of 708 from the 8.8-magnitude quake is expected to rise.
The United Nations has said it will rush aid deliveries to Chile after the government asked for help.

In COASTAL TOWNS AND VILLAGES HIT BY GIANT WAVES after the earthquake, the scale of destruction is becoming clear.

AFP news agency quotes state television as saying more than 300 bodies were found in the fishing village of Constitucion alone.

In the port of Talcahuano, more than 20 boats were swept ashore and dumped in the streets by the waves.

Defence Minister Francisco Vidal has admitted the country's navy made a mistake by not immediately issuing a tsunami warning after the earthquake, a move that could have helped coastal residents flee to higher ground sooner.

But he added an alarm sounded by port captains had saved hundreds if not thousands of lives.

'SOCIAL TENSION'

Many of Concepcion's 500,000 inhabitants are short of food and have seen their water and electricity supplies cut off.

The army was called in to help the police force deal with looters, some of whom filled shopping trolleys full of groceries while others made off with plasma TVs and other electrical appliances.

The government said an overnight curfew was imposed in some of the worst-hit areas. It said it was largely observed, despite a number of strong aftershocks that sent frightened residents running out into the streets.

Meanwhile, rescuers with heat detectors are hunting for dozens of people believed to be trapped in an apartment block toppled by the quake.

The city's Mayor, Jacqueline van Rysselberghe, has warned there is the potential for severe "social tension."

She said: "We need food for the population. We are without supplies, and if we don't resolve that we are going to have serious security problems."

"I would advise criminals not to mess with the armed forces. Our response will be severe, but within the context of the law," he said.

'GIANT EFFORT'

About two million Chileans are believed to have been affected by Saturday's earthquake, the seventh most powerful on record and the worst disaster to befall Chile in 50 years.

President Michelle Bachelet, due to hand power to President-elect Sebastian Pinera on 11 March, said the air force was to begin flying in food and vital aid to badly-hit areas, some of which have been cut off by the quake.

"We face a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude that it will require a giant effort," she said.

Chile did not initially request foreign assistance, but Ms Bachelet has subsequently said some offers of aid would be accepted.

She said Chile needed field hospitals, temporary bridges, water purification plants, damage assessment experts and rescuers to relieve those already working to find survivors.

EMERGENCY AID

The epicentre of the quake was 115km (70 miles) north-east of Concepcion and 325km (202 miles) south-west of the capital Santiago.

About 1.5 million homes in Chile have been damaged. Most of the collapsed buildings were of older design - including many historic structures.

About 90% of the historic centre of the town of CURICÓ was destroyed. Many roads and bridges across the affected area were damaged or destroyed.

One US risk assessor, Eqecat, has put the cost of repairing the damage at between $15bn and $30bn (£9.8bn-£19.6bn) or 10-20% of gross domestic product.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would visit Santiago on Tuesday and meet Ms Bachelet and Mr Pinera, officials said.

The European Union has pledged 3m euros ($4m; £2.7m) in emergency aid for Chile. Japan said it was providing an emergency grant of $3m, as well as sending tents, generators, water cleaners and other emergency gear, while China has pledged $1m.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has announced EMERGENCY MEASURES to deal with the destruction caused by Saturday's massive earthquake.

The 8.8 magnitude quake - one of the most powerful recorded - devastated central parts of the country, killing more than 700 people.

Troops are being deployed to help with rescue efforts and prevent looting.

A curfew is in force in some areas. Basic supplies are to be distributed as rescuers reach worst-hit areas.

We face a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude that it will require a giant effort," Ms Bachelet told reporters on Sunday in the capital, Santiago.

The curfew, which began at 2100 local time (2400 GMT), applies in the region of Maule - where more than 541 are confirmed dead - and in Concepcion, Chile's second city.

Both areas are being placed under special rules to speed up the delivery of aid.

The army has been sent to support police to prevent unrest in Concepcion, south of Santiago.

The mayor has said food is running out and the situation in the city is getting out of control. Supermarkets and chemists have been looted and thousands of people remain homeless.

Meanwhile, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has lifted its Pacific-wide alert, after fears of high waves failed to materialise in many countries.

But Chile itself saw waves inundate coastal towns. Defence Minister Francisco Vidal said the country's navy had made a mistake by not immediately issuing a tsunami warning after the earthquake, a move that could have helped coastal residents flee to higher ground sooner.

He added that an alarm sounded by port captains had saved hundreds if not thousands of lives.

SWEPT ASHORE

Meanwhile rescue teams are still trying to reach dozens of people believed to be trapped in a collapsed block of flats in Concepcion.

Many Chileans are spending a second night outdoors, afraid to stay in damaged homes.

Reports say 350 bodies were found in the devastated fishing village of Constitucion - which was hit by both the quake and the tsunami it set off.

In the port of Talcahuano more than 20 boats were swept ashore and dumped in the streets by the waves.

The emergency measures announced by Ms Bachelet also include:

• Air force flights to deliver supplies to affected areas

• Free distribution of basic goods in Maule and Biobio regions - distribution points are yet to be decided
• Efforts to guarantee electricity distribution, as many areas remain without power

Officials say public transport services are slowly returning to normal. One metro line in Santiago is operating. Roads are passable, although with diversions.

The airport in Santiago has reopened. It had been closed because of damage to the terminal and control tower.

AID OFFERED

The epicentre of the quake was 115km (70 miles) north-east of Concepcion and 325km south-west of Santiago.

About 1.5 million homes have been damaged. Most of the collapsed buildings were of older design - including many historic structures.

About 90% of the historic centre of the town of Curico was destroyed. Many roads and bridges across the affected area were damaged or destroyed.

One US risk assessor, Eqecat, put the cost of the damage at between $15bn and $30bn (£9.8bn-£19.6bn) or 10-20% of gross domestic product.

Responsibility for reconstruction will soon pass to President-elect Sebastian Pinera, who takes office in two weeks.

"It's going to be a very big task and we're going to need resources," he said.
Chile did not initially request foreign assistance, but Ms Bachelet later said some offers of aid would be accepted.

She said Chile needed field hospitals, temporary bridges, water purification plants, damage assessment experts and rescuers to relieve those already working to find survivors.

Japan has lifted all tsunami alerts throughout the country, almost two days after a powerful earthquake hit Chile.

A tsunami more than one metre (3ft) high hit the country's northern Pacific coast on Sunday, although bigger waves were expected.

Other Pacific nations were hit by tsunamis but no major damage or casualties were reported.

In Chile itself, however, areas affected by both the quake and the resulting tsunami saw hundreds dead.

In the fishing village of Concepcion, 350 bodies were found and in the port of Talcahuano more than 20 boats were swept ashore and dumped in the streets by the waves.

Large waves struck Chile's Juan Fernandez island group, reaching halfway into one inhabited area and killing five people. Several more are missing.

WELL PREPARED

Warning systems across the Pacific have improved since the 2004 Indonesia quake sparked a tsunami that killed nearly 250,000 people.

Nations and regions affected by the Pacific "Ring of Fire" all sounded alerts, trying to estimate the anticipated time of arrival of any tsunami following the earthquake, which struck on Saturday at 0634 GMT.

The first tsunami waves to reach Japan were reported to be just 10cm (4in) high, with a wave of 90cm (35.5in) following.

The BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo says Japan has experienced many earthquakes of its own and was well prepared.

People in areas at risk were ordered to move to higher ground, train services running along the coast were suspended and steel gates across fishing harbours were shut.

In 1960 about 140 people were killed by a tsunami in Japan after a major earthquake in Chile.

Thousands of people also left coastal areas of the Philippines after warnings of a possible tsunami were spread by text message.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had warned of "widespread damage" across the region following Saturday's quake, but later said waves were not as high as predicted.

A geophysicist at the centre, Gerard Fryer, told the BBC that the tsunami's impact was small because the earthquake occurred in shallow water.

The earthquake was "big enough to do significant damage, but not big enough to do anything large in the far field", he said.

'ORDINARY STORMY DAY'

Part of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia were hit by a 4m (13ft) wave, but no casualties were reported.

In Tahiti, the tsunami waves were smaller, causing little damage.

New Zealand's Chatham Islands were hit by a wave of 1.5m (5ft) and areas along the main North and South Islands experienced small surges with no reports of casualties or serious damage.

Sirens were sounded in Hawaii to alert residents to the tsunami threat several hours before waves were expected.

The first waves hit about 2200 GMT on Saturday, after water began moving away from the shore at Hilo Bay on the Big Island before returning.

But correspondents say that, although 8ft (2.5m) waves had been predicted, the islands experienced nothing noticeably different from an ordinary stormy day.
Hawaiian officials later lifted the tsunami warning.

Despite Australian warnings of "possible dangerous waves, strong ocean currents and foreshore flooding" on the east coast, swimmers and surfers flocked to Sydney's Bondi beach.

Roskilde 5 July 2009

Herning 16 August 2009

HELP CHILE AND HAITI by making DONATIONS to ONE OF THESE RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS:

Many of Concepcion's 500,000 inhabitants are short of food and have seen their water and electricity supplies cut off.

The army was called in to help the police force deal with looters, some of whom filled shopping trolleys full of groceries while others made off with plasma TVs and other electrical appliances.

The government said an overnight curfew was imposed in some of the worst-hit areas. It said it was largely observed, despite a number of STRONG AFTERSHOCKS that sent frightened residents running out into the streets.

At least 160 people were arrested in CONCEPCION and a 22-year-old man was killed amid disturbances, police said.

Ricardo Leon was at his grandmother's house in Concepcion when a huge earthquake struck early on Saturday.

CONCEPCION is Chile's second largest city and is in the worst-hit area.

When the earthquake struck I woke up, ran to the door and found my grandmother standing in the hall. We knew what to do: get under a doorframe and wait - but this quake felt like it lasted for hours.

My grandmother's house has two storeys and is about 50 years old, but apart from a cracked wall, it withstood the tremors well.

During the quake the power was cut, so when it was finally over we went out into the dark street, lit only by the full moon.

The phones and the gas supply were also off. The water supply lasted a few hours longer.

People were gathering in the street, tuning into their car radios for local news.
With each AFTERSHOCK - and there were more than 90 over the next few hours - we felt everything was going to start again.

HOSPITAL SHORTAGES

An hour after the quake my sister - who also lives in Concepcion - rang to tell me that she and my other sister were OK.

Later that morning hospital staff asked for water because their supply was cut off. The A and E department was flooded so they were treating emergencies in the car park.

The sound of ambulances, police cars and firemen did not stop all day.

I saw some of the city when I went with my sister's boyfriend to pick up some things from his flat.

Most of the old houses were flattened, more shocking was all the new buildings with cracked walls and tilting floors.

One office building more than 20 storeys high was listing to one side, and another building, less than a year old, was completely flattened.

I learned later that an old classmate of mine lived there, I still don't know what's happened to him.

I managed to speak to the mother of my daughter who lives in Talcahuano, 15 minutes from Concepcion - they were OK.

Some debris fell on my baby's crib and broke it in half. Fortunately she was sleeping with her mum at that moment.

We spent the day trying to get hold of friends and family. We heard that prisoners had escaped from the jail, and started learning of the hundreds of people who had died.

On Sunday morning the looting began and the city became dangerous, so we decided to go to our parents in Los Angeles, a two-hour drive away.

The problem was finding fuel. Petrol stations had no electricity so couldn't pump. Some of them had been attacked by the mob, so the owners refused to use the emergency systems to provide fuel.

The few petrol stations that were operating were giving priority to emergency vehicles. In a city called Lota - 50 km away from Concepcion - an angry mob had burned down a petrol station when they were denied fuel.

We managed to fill up our tanks because my sister's boyfriend works in the city council.

In the petrol station we heard traumatic stories from policemen who had been in a gun battle the previous night trying to control the mob.

We also spoke to a friend who knows the owner of a construction company. He is in despair over one of his apartment blocks which collapsed. He can't understand what went wrong and feels suicidal about the people who were inside.

As we were leaving the city we saw people queuing for water, supplies and fuel. We also saw [COLOR="Yellow"]people looting stores and supermarkets,/COLOR] walking away with TV sets and refrigerators.

The roads were OK, apart from a few cracks. Now, on Monday, Los Angeles is getting back to normal, but Concepcion is a different story.

Roskilde 5 July 2009

Herning 16 August 2009

HELP CHILE AND HAITI by making DONATIONS to ONE OF THESE RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS:

Chile Earthquake / news articles on 1 and 2 March 2010

BBC World News: More than 100 people are killed in a LANDSLIDE in eastern UGANDA, a minister tells the BBC, with many children feared dead.

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN CHILE ON 1 MARCH 2010, Part I

From Filipino GMA News.TV

MAN, DAUGHTER FALL 13 FLOORS IN CHILE QUAKE

(Michael Warren, Associated Press Writer - 03/01/2010 | 08:45 PM)

CONCEPCION, Chile — When their 13th-floor apartment began to shake, Alberto Rozas pulled his 7-year-old daughter into the bathroom doorway and waited for it to stop. Instead, they fell.

Plummeting as their brand-new apartment building toppled like a felled tree, they hugged each other all the way down.

Rozas had no idea which way was up until he looked through his apartment's shattered window and spotted light — "the light of the full moon."

Rozas and his daughter, Fernanda, clambered up and to safety with nothing more than a few cuts, scrapes and bruises.

"The earthquake and the fall were one single, horrible thing," Rozas told The Associated Press on Sunday. "I held onto her and she never let me go."

Rozas' neighbors who lived on the other side of the hall found themselves trapped beneath the structure, while rescuers painstakingly used electric saws and a generator-powered hammer to cut into the concrete.

"We don't have any listening devices or cameras," said Ian Argo, a firefighter commander.

As of Sunday, 23 people had been pulled alive from the 15-story Rio Alta building and seven bodies had been removed. An estimated 60 people remained trapped inside.

Socovil, the company that opened the concrete-and-glass structure last June, issued a statement saying it had complied with all building codes. But many residents were angry.

"The construction was obviously poor," Rozas said.

Abel Torres, 25, had a view of the Bio Bio River from his sixth-floor apartment. He had just gotten home from his job at a nightclub when the quake hit at 3:34 a.m.

"My TV fell on top of me and suddenly I saw stars shooting across my window," he said.

Torres and his roommate stacked furniture to reach that window — now a skylight — and escaped without clothes, coated in dust.

On the second floor, Maribel Alarcon and her husband Gunther rushed to comfort their 2-year-old son Oliver when he started crying moments before the temblor.

Their concern was their salvation: Oliver's bedroom was the only place spared in their apartment.

"We prayed a lot," Alarcon said. "And if God let us survive, that was because someone was going to rescue us."

Much higher in the building, Rozas was sleeping alongside his daughter when the shaking began.

"There was dust, noise, everything falling," he said. "We went to the bathroom doorway. Then there was the fall. Finally it stopped."

After they climbed out of the wreckage, Rozas took Fernanda to her mother's house, then returned to help firefighters understand the layout of the toppled building.

He retrieved medicine and clothes for Fernanda. And his own guitar. —AP

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN CHILE ON 2 MARCH 2010

TSUNAMI SWEEPS AWAY TOWNS ON CHILEAN COAST

(03/02/2010 | 01:52 PM - GMA News.TV)

TALCAHUANO, Chile – When the shaking stopped, Marioli Gatica and her extended family huddled in a circle on the floor of their seaside wooden home in this gritty port town, listening to the radio by a lantern's light.

They heard FIREFIGHTERS URGING TALCAHUANO's CITIZENS to STAY CALM and STAY INSIDE. They heard NOTHING OF A TSUNAMI — UNTIL IT SLAMMED INTO THEIR HOUSE with an unearthly roar about an hour after Saturday's magnitude 8.8 quake.

GATICA's HOUSE EXPLODED WITH WATER. She and her family were swept below the surface, swirling amid loose ship containers and other massive debris that smashed buildings into oblivion all around them.

"We were sitting there one moment and the next I looked up into the water and saw cables and furniture floating," Gatica said.

She clung to her 11-year-old daughter, Ninoska Elgueta, but the rush of water ripped the girl from her hands. Then the wave retreated as suddenly as it came.

Two of the giant containers crushed Gatica's home. A third landed seaward of where she floated, preventing the retreating tsunami from dragging her and other relatives away.

Soon Ninoska was back in her mother's arms — she had grabbed a tree branch to avoid being swept away and climbed down as soon as the sea receded.

Gatica's son, husband and 76-year-old father were OK as well, as were her sister and her family. The only relative missing was her 76-year-old mother, Nery Valdebenito, Gatica said as she waited in a hundreds-long line outside a school to report her losses.

"I think my mother is trapped beneath" the house, Gatica said.

As she spoke, firefighters with search dogs were examining the ruins of her home blocks away. Minutes later, the group leader drew his finger across his neck: No one alive under the house.

Such horrors abound along the devastated beach communities of Chile's south-central coast, which suffered the double tragedy Saturday of the earthquake and the tsunami it caused.

Of the quake's 723 VICTIMS, MOST were IN the wine-growing MAULE REGION that includes TALCAHUANO, now a mud-caked, ravaged town of 180,000 just north of Concepcion.

Close to 80 percent of TALCAHUANO's RESIDENTS are HOMELESS, with 10,000 HOMES UNINHABITABLE and HUNDREDS MORE DESTROYED, said Mayor Gaston Saavedra.

"The port is destroyed. The streets, collapsed. City buildings, destroyed," Saavedra said.

In CONCEPCION, the biggest city near the epicenter, rescuers heard the knocking of victims trapped inside a TOPPLED 70-UNIT APARTMENT BUILDING Monday and were drilling through thick concrete to reach them, said fire Commander Juan Carlos Subercaseux. By late Monday, FIREFIGHTERS HAD PULLED 25 SURVIVORS and NINE BODIES from the structure.

CHILE's DEFENSE MINISTER has said the NAVY made a MISTAKE by not immediately activating a tsunami warning. He said PORT CAPTAINS who did CALL WARNINGS IN SEVERAL COASTAL TOWNS SAVED HUNDREDS OF LIVES.

The waves came too quickly for a group of 40 retirees vacationing at a seaside campground in the village of Pelluhue. They had piled into a bus that was swept out to sea, along with trucks and houses, when the tsunami surged 200 meters (yards) into the summer resort town.

As of Monday, firefighters said, five of the retirees' bodies had been recovered. At least 30 remained missing.

Most residents in Pelluhue, where 300 homes were destroyed, were aware of the tsunami threat. Street signs point to the nearest tsunami evacuation route.

"We ran through the highest part of town, yelling, 'Get out of your homes!'" said Claudio Escalona, 43, who fled his home near the campground with his wife and daughters, ages 4 and 6. "About 20 minutes later came three waves, two of them huge, about 6 meters (18 feet) each, and a third even bigger. That one went into everything."

"You could hear the screams of children, women, everyone," Escalona said. "There were the screams, and then a tremendous silence."

In the village of Dichato, teenagers drinking on the beach were the first to shout the warning when they saw a horseshoe-shaped bay empty about an hour after the quake. They ran through the streets, screaming. Police joined them, using megaphones.

The water rose steadily, surging above the second floors of homes and lifting them off their foundations. Cars were stacked three high in the streets. Miles inland along a river valley, cows munched Monday next to marooned boats, refrigerators, sofas and other debris.

"THE MARITIME RADIO SAID THERE WOULDN'T BE A TSUNAMI," said survivor Rogilio Reyes, who was tipped off by the teenagers.

Dichato Mayor Eduardo Aguilera said 49 PEOPLE WERE MISSING and 800 HOMES were DESTROYED. Some people fled to high ground, only to return too early and get caught by the tsunami, he said. Fourteen bodies were found by Monday. The only aid: A fire department water truck.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it expected the death toll to rise as communications improve. For survivors, it said access to health services will be a major challenge and noted that indigenous people living in adobe homes were most at risk.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was bringing 20 satellite phones as a first piece of a much larger U.S. aid package.

ARGENTINA said it was sending six aircraft loaded with a field hospital, 55 doctors and water treatment plants.

BRAZIL said it was sending a field hospital and rescue teams. Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, visited the capital of Santiago to express his solidarity.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said authorities were flying 320 tons of food, water and other basics into the quake zone.

Assessments of damage to Chile's economy were in the early stage. The copper industry was spared, while Concha y Toro, Chile's biggest winemaker, said Monday that the quake has forced it to halt production for at least a week while it assesses damage.

SECURITY was a major concern in CONCEPCION and other hard-hit towns. Most markets in Concepcion were ransacked by LOOTERS and people desperate for food, water, toilet paper, gasoline and other essentials Sunday, prompting authorities to send TROOPS and IMPOSE AN OVERNIGHT CURFEW in the city. The interior ministry extended the Concepcion curfew to run from 8 p.m. Monday to noon Tuesday.

When a small convoy of armored vehicles drove along a downtown street, bystanders applauded, shouting: "Finally! Finally!"

Throughout Talcahuano, stick-wielding residents barricaded streets with tires and rubble to protect their homes in the absence of law enforcement.

Downtown, eight suspected looters kneeled outside a pharmacy, their hands on their heads, as a police officer taunted them.

"Are you praying?" he shouted. "I don't hear you. Pray." -- AP

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They didn't make it. The tsunami came in three waves, surging 200 meters (yards) into this Pacific Ocean resort town and dragging away the bus they'd piled into, hoping to get to high ground. Most of those inside were tourists, and only five of their bodies had been found by Monday, firefighters and witnesses said.

Pelluhue's horror underscored the destruction wrought by Saturday's pre-dawn 8.8-magnitude quake and the tsunami that ravaged communities along Chile's south-central coast — those closest to the quake's epicenter. Chile's death toll reached 723, and most died in the wine-growing Maule region that includes Pelluhue.

Survivors here found about 20 bodies, and an estimated 300 homes were destroyed.

Most residents were aware of the tsunami threat; street signs pointed to the nearest tsunami evacuation route. The ruins of homes, television sets, clothes, dishwaters and dead fish cover the town's black sand beaches.

"We ran through the highest part of town, yelling, 'Get out of your homes!'" said Claudio Escalona, 43, who fled his home near the campground with his wife and daughters, ages 4 and 6. "About 20 minutes later came three waves, two of them huge, about 6 meters (18 feet) each, and a third even bigger. That one went into everything."

"You could hear the screams of children, women, everyone," Escalona said. "There were the screams, and then a tremendous silence."

Destruction is widespread and food scarce all along the coast — in towns like Talca and Cauquenes, Curico and San Javier. In Curanipe, the local church served as a morgue. In Cauquenes, people quickly buried their dead because the funeral home had no electricity.

President Michelle Bachelet said authorities were flying hundreds of tons of food, water and other basics into the region.

After the quake rocked the gritty port town of Talcahuano, Marioli Gatica and her extended family huddled in a circle on the floor of their seaside wooden home, listening to the radio by a lantern's light.

They heard firefighters urging citizens to stay calm and stay inside. They heard nothing about a tsunami — until it slammed into their house with an unearthly roar. Gatica's house exploded with water. The family was swept below the surface, swirling amid loose ship containers and other heavy debris that smashed buildings into oblivion all around them.

"We were sitting there one moment and the next I looked up into the water and saw cables and furniture floating," Gatica said.

Two of the giant containers crushed Gatica's home. A third grounded between the ocean and where she floated, keeping the retreating tsunami from dragging her and other relatives out to sea. Her 11-year-old daughter, Ninoska Elgueta, clung to a tree as the wave retreated.

Firefighters with search dogs examined the ruins of her home. The group leader drew his finger across his neck: No one alive there.

Close to 80 percent of Talcahuano's 180,000 people are homeless, with 10,000 homes uninhabitable and hundreds more destroyed, Mayor Gaston Saavedra said.

"The port is destroyed. The streets, collapsed. City buildings, destroyed," Saavedra said.

In Concepcion, the biggest city near the epicenter, rescuers drilled through thick concrete to look for survivors trapped inside a toppled 70-unit apartment building. Firefighters had pulled 25 survivors and nine bodies from the structure.

Chile's defense minister has said the navy made a mistake by not immediately activating a tsunami warning. He said port captains who did call warnings in several coastal towns saved hundreds of lives.

In the village of Dichato, teenagers drinking on the beach were the first to shout the warning when they saw a horseshoe-shaped bay empty about an hour after the quake. They ran through the streets, screaming. Police joined them, using megaphones.

The water rose steadily, surging above the second floors of homes and lifting them off their foundations. Cars were stacked three high in the streets. Miles inland along a river valley, cows munched next to marooned boats, refrigerators, sofas and other debris.

"The maritime radio said there wouldn't be a tsunami," said Rogilio Reyes, who was warned off by the teenagers.

Dichato Mayor, Eduardo Aguilera said 49 people were missing and 800 homes were destroyed. Some people fled to high ground, only to return too early and get caught by the tsunami, he said.

The World Health Organization said it expected the death toll to rise as communications improve. For survivors, it said access to health services will be a major challenge.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was bringing 20 satellite phones Tuesday as a first piece of a much larger U.S. aid package. Argentina was sending six aircraft carrying a field hospital, 55 doctors and water treatment plants. Brazil was sending a field hospital and rescue teams.

Security remained a concern. Most markets in Concepcion were ransacked by looters and people desperate for food, water, toilet paper, gasoline and other essentials Sunday, prompting authorities to send troops and impose an overnight curfew. The interior ministry extended the city curfew to run from 8 p.m. Monday to noon Tuesday.

When a small convoy of armored vehicles drove along a downtown street, bystanders applauded, shouting: "Finally! Finally!" - AP
----------------------

A curfew has ended in Chile's second city, Concepcion, with thousands of troops now trying to prevent a renewal of looting in the earthquake zone.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet says 14,000 troops are now in the region, after dozens of people were arrested for looting on Monday. The looters also
set fire to a department store.

A special air route is being set up to deliver aid from the capital, Santiago, to Concepcion, 430km (270 miles) away.

Saturday morning's 8.8-magnitude quake killed at least 723 people.

The deteriorating security situation in Concepcion comes despite the influx of thousands of troops to reinforce local police.

Many of the city's 500,000 inhabitants are short of food and have seen their water and electricity supplies cut off.

But lorry after lorry loaded with water, food and mattresses is being held up by the military until the curfew is lifted, reports the BBC's Andy Gallacher from the checkpoint on the outskirts of Concepcion.

The main highway in the region is twisted and bent out of shape, but the route remains open, our correspondent says.

Security seems to be the biggest issue holding up rescue efforts, he adds.
Some residents quoted by Reuters news agency said they were organising groups to defend their property.

President Michelle Bachelet sent the troops to the region condemning "pillage and criminality".

"We can say that, according what we've been told from the area, the situation in Concepcion is under control today," she said.

But, she added, authorities would take any "necessary measure" to stop renewed looting.

"Our principle objective is to go and help people tackle the emergency in the disaster zone. I want them [looters] to understand this and that they'll receive rigorous legal action. We will not tolerate such actions."

Meanwhile, rescuers searching the rubble of a collapsed apartment building in the city in which dozens are feared trapped say they have heard signs of life and are attempting to reach survivors.

COASTAL DESTRUCTION

Reports are beginning to emerge of the scale of the devastation in other areas.

Up to 90% of the mud-and-wood buildings in the historic centre of Curico had been destroyed or damaged, and a hospital badly damaged, BBC reporters said.

Some coastal towns and villages were also hit by giant waves after the earthquake, with some reported to have been completely destroyed.

The government admits that its attempts to provide aid swiftly have been hampered by damaged roads and power cuts.

The air supply route between Santiago and Concepcion will help the authorities send more than 300 tonnes of aid, including 120 tonnes of food, to the worst affected area of the country.

COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS

INTERNATIONAL AID has begun arriving.

Neighbouring ARGENTINA is flying a field hospital over the Andes to Chile and has pledged half a million litres of much-needed drinking water.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva flew to Santiago and offered his nation's support, as did US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Mrs Clinton took a consignment of satellite phones with her to Santiago after the Chilean government requested communications equipment alongside field hospitals and water purification units.

"One of their biggest problems has been communications," Mrs Clinton told reporters. "They can't communicate into Concepcion and some of the surrounding areas."

After touring the disaster zone, President-elect Sebastian Pinera said the situation was worse than he had expected.

"When we have a catastrophe of this magnitude, when there is no electricity and no water, the population... starts losing the sense of public order," he said.

About two million Chileans are believed to have been affected by Saturday's earthquake, the seventh most powerful on record and the worst disaster to befall Chile in 50 years.

The epicentre of the quake was 115km (70 miles) north-east of Concepcion and 325km south-west of the capital Santiago.

About 1.5 million homes in Chile have been damaged. Most of the collapsed buildings were of older design - including many historic structures.

One US risk assessor, Eqecat, has put the cost of repairing the damage at between $15bn and $30bn (£9.8bn - £19.6bn) or 10-20% of the country's gross domestic product.

------------------

In the fishing village of Constitucion, the mayor said the seafront and centre had been "completely destroyed".

Capital's ring road demolished

LATEST DEATH TOLL ACCORDING TO CHILE's PRESIDENT IS 795. (News posted after 20pm EMT).

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Chile earthquake / news on 3 March from Filipino GMA News.TV

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN CHILE ON 3 MARCH 2010 FROM FILIPINO GMA News.TV

POST-QUAKE CHAOS, LOOTING HURTS CHILE's PRIDE

(3/03/2010 | 08:24 AM - GMA News.TV)

CONCEPCION, Chile – Chile's president defended herself Tuesday against charges of government incompetence in a disaster that not only shattered lives and property but challenged the nation's very identity.

A society built on pride in its wealth and orderliness found itself suddenly facing gangs of rioters, a wounded economy and a shaken sense of civic responsibility. A government that sent 15 tons of food and medicine, a search and rescue team and 20 doctors to Haiti after the earthquake there found itself seeking emergency aid from other countries.

In Lota, a former coal mining town of 30,000 along the heavily damaged coast, Mayor Jorge Venegas said Tuesday that a "psychosis" had taken hold.

A gas station went up in flames, gunfire rattled through the night and residents guarded streets against roaming bands of looters, he told Radio Bio Bio. He said 2,000 homes had been destroyed, thousands were living in the streets and people were wielding guns, iron bars and long sticks to protect their possessions.

"It's urgent that the army reach our city," Venegas pleaded.

"It's a collective hysteria," said Francisco Santa Cruz, 20, an aid worker caring for 56 families in a camp for the newly homeless in San Pedro, across the Bio Bio River from Concepcion, the biggest city in the quake zone.

Like Venegas in Lota, Santa Cruz said he heard gunfire throughout the night.

"They used to call us (Chileans) the jaguars of South America," he said, using Chilean slang for proud and strong. "But now we know that we're not even close to that."

President Michelle Bachelet was on the defensive against a storm of claims that the government's response to the disaster was a failure.

La Tercera, an influential daily, said the looting and violence showed "incomprehensible weakness and slowness" by authorities. El Mercurio, a conservative publication many consider Chile's paper of record, called on President-elect Sebastian Pinera, who takes office March 11, to "restore hope" to Chile.

The government on Monday imposed an 8 p.m-to-noon curfew and sent 14,000 troops to Concepcion and surrounding areas to stop widespread looting — after virtually every market in the city had been sacked. On Tuesday the curfew was extended to begin at 6 p.m.

"People probably are always going to feel that we could have done things better," Bachelet insisted before receiving U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who promised American aid. "But the reality is given the extent (of destruction), it always will be insufficient."

The death toll rose to 796 Tuesday and aftershocks continued to roll through the region; the stronger ones frightened residents living in temporary shelter.

Saturday's magnitude 8.8 quake and subsequent tsunami ravaged towns and cities along a 700-kilometer (435-mile) stretch of Chile's Pacific coast. Downed bridges and damaged or debris-strewn highways made transit difficult if not impossible in many areas.

Chileans seemed deeply troubled by what the disaster showed about their government — and themselves. Some looters were people grabbing basic necessities like toilet paper, but many appeared to be well-dressed citizens carting off electronic goods.

Catalina Sandoval, a 22-year-old construction engineering student in Concepcion, said she felt "rage, impotence and disillusion" with the lawlessness.

"I'm shocked," Sandoval said. "Not only criminals but well-off people are stealing."

Leonardo Sanhueza lamented in the Ultimas Noticias newspaper a "SOCIAL DISINTEGRATION" in the wealthy country that has led some people simply "to look out for themselves — and let the rest eat like dogs."

Some Chileans were so troubled that even long-held civic beliefs were shaken. Since the bloody dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet ended 20 years ago, Chileans have preferred that soldiers stay inside their barracks.

But police were completely outnumbered when looting began after the quake, and residents Tuesday cheered an armored troop convoy and the arrival of a military C-130 in Concepcion delivering aid supplies.

The economy also took a severe blow in a nation of 17 million whose industry, negligible inflation and stable democracy are the envy of Latin America.

Booming copper revenues and prudent fiscal policies helped the government reduce poverty from 45 percent in 1990 to 13 percent today, and more than triple per capita annual income to $14,000 in that span.

But a huge wealth gap exists: A study by the World Bank several years ago showed the government spent 1.3 percent of its revenue on the poorest 10 percent of Chileans and 40 percent on the richest 10 percent. Many social commentators have noted the quake exposed anew the plight of Chile's poor, among the worst affected by the disaster.

President-elect Pinera, a conservative billionaire, campaigned on a promise to grow the economy by 6 percent annually and transform Chile "into the best country in the world."

Those hopes, however, were tempered by the quake. AIR Worldwide, a Boston-based consulting firm, estimated economic losses could surpass $15 billion (7.9 billion Chilean pesos). About 2 million people were injured, made homeless or suffered other major losses.

Destruction was widespread and food scarce all along the coast — in towns like Talca and Cauquenes, Curico and San Javier.

In Curanipe, the local church served as a morgue. In Cauquenes, people quickly buried their dead because the funeral home had no electricity. Close to 80 percent of Talcahuano's 180,000 people are homeless, its port destroyed.

International aid has started pouring in.

Clinton said the United States is sending satellite phones, which Chile identified as a high priority, as well as water purification systems, generators and medical equipment. It pledged more help, including a field hospital Clinton said is "ready to go."

"We have these things in our country, but how can we get them to the people if we don't have bridges and roads?" said Bachelet. Most aid deliveries were being flown from — and to — airports damaged by the quake; Bachelet has said 230 tons of relief was on its way to Concepcion.

Argentina flew in a C-130 with much of a hospital — including a surgical and intensive care unit, ambulance and laboratory — three water treatment plants and power generation units, the military announced. Five more planeloads of aid were to arrive by Tuesday night.

Brazil said it was sending aid and an army field hospital. Peru said it was sending a hospital, doctors and 15 tons of blankets and tents. China offered $1 million in humanitarian aid. In Geneva, the International Red Cross asked donors for $6.5 million for water, tents and other relief.

The U.N. said Chile had told it the country doesn't need food or water but rather temporary bridges, field hospitals, satellite phones, electric generators, damage assessment teams, water purification systems, field kitchens and dialysis centers.

"The government is expecting that these needs will be filled largely through bilateral arrangements, and we need to stay within the parameters of what the country has asked for, and not to send anything that they didn't ask for," U.N. deputy emergency relief coordinator Catherine Bragg said in New York.

There were small signs of normalcy in Concepcion. The government began distributing food baskets and water, and some gas stations reopened.

Orderly lines formed outside a supermarket — the only one in the city that hadn't been sacked. - AP

CHILE EARTHQUAKE MAY HAVE SHORTENED EARTH's DAY

(3/03/2010 | 09:17 AM - GMA News.TV)

NEW YORK – Earth's days may have gotten a little bit shorter since the massive earthquake in Chile, but don't feel bad if you haven't noticed. The difference would be only about one-millionth of a second.

Richard Gross, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and colleagues calculated that Saturday's quake shortened the day by 1.26 microseconds. A microsecond is one-millionth of a second.

The length of a day is the time it takes for the planet to complete one rotation — 86,400 seconds or 24 hours.

An earthquake can make Earth rotate faster by nudging some of its mass closer to the planet's axis, just as ice skaters can speed up their spins by pulling in their arms. Conversely, a quake can slow the rotation and lengthen the day if it redistributes mass away from that axis, Gross said Tuesday.

Gross said the calculated changes in length of the day are permanent. So a bunch of big quakes could add up to make the day shorter, "but these changes are very, very small."

So small, in fact, that scientists can't record them directly. Gross said actual observations of the length of the day are accurate to five-millionths of a second. His estimate of the effect of the Chile quake is only a quarter of that span.

"I'll certainly look at the observations when they come in," Gross said, but "I doubt I'll see anything." - AP

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The drive down to Concepcion from Santiago passes through some spectacular countryside.

After travelling past the vineyards of the wine-making region the landscape becomes more rugged as you head into Bio-Bio region and Chile's second city.

But since this city was rocked by Saturday's earthquake, the normally modern and well-developed roads are now twisted and broken throughout the route.

After a journey beset by fallen bridges and long diversions, the final approach into the province of Concepcion came to a frustrating halt just kilometres from the city.

The military set up a 16-hour long curfew and were escorting just the most important aid vehicles past the disturbances.

As the young lieutenant explained the situation to a crowd of drivers waiting to enter Concepcion, the ground shook twice in quick succession. The daily aftershocks are still very noticeable here.

After some negotiation we're given the piece of paper which grants us access to the quake zone.

It is a few kilometres down the road that the scope of this earthquake at last becomes clear.

We pass by a destroyed shopping mall and half-a-dozen collapsed buildings on our arrival.

Hundreds of soldiers are patrolling the streets and evidence of the recent looting is everywhere.

Yet by arriving during a curfew, Concepcion is eerily devoid of cars and almost of people.

'NO HELP'

At a destroyed apartment block, where apparently eight bodies have been pulled from the rubble, rescue workers are still searching for survivors using sniffer dogs.

They're concerned too about a half-finished apartment block which they say has been structurally damaged and could collapse at any moment.

Given the constant earth tremors beneath us, it's a distinct possibility.
Then suddenly, the city emerges from its strict curfew.

Thousands of drivers are on the streets trying to reach the nearby town of San Pedro to find clean water and safe shelter. Others, however, can't leave.

"We've been defending our homes from the looters," Eduardo Santos tells me, standing outside a badly-cracked apartment block which he and his family are too frightened to sleep in.

Instead, they are living in a hastily-erected tent with several other families from the same building.

The authorities just walk past us and don't help, he says pointing to some of the troops posted to the city who are dealing with a damaged bridge.

Eduardo makes another emergency run into his apartment to get fresh water but refuses to stay there more than a couple of minutes.

That has put him in conflict with the troops who want everyone off the streets by nightfall and with the looters who may try again to break into his empty home.

CHILE 'NOT FACING FOOD SHORTAGES' AFTER EARTHQUAKE

Chile's President Michelle Bachelet says the country is not facing shortages of food and fuel after Saturday's powerful earthquake.

Aid is being distributed in Concepcion and other badly-damaged towns where the army had to quell outbreaks of looting.

Nearly 800 people are known to have died in the 8.8 magnitude quake and the powerful tsunami it generated.

The navy has said it is partially to blame for coastal towns not being clearly warned of the tsunami danger.

The 14,000 troops President Bachelet has sent to the earthquake zone have restored order in Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city, after an 18-hour curfew was put in place to prevent looting that broke out.

The curfew was extended from 1800 (2100 GMT) on Tuesday to noon Wednesday in Concepcion and similar curfews have been imposed in six other towns badly affected by the earthquake.

On Wednesday, President Bachelet sought to calm fears that there was not enough food and water in the earthquake zone.

"There is no shortage, there is enough food and therefore we must remain calm," she said.

"There is also enough fuel, there is no risk of shortages."

Dozens of people were arrested in Concepcion on Monday for looting and on Tuesday the mayor of Hualpen appealed for help in a radio interview, saying his town had been taken over by "thugs".

Troops are fanning out to supervise the delivery of food, medicine and water to hundreds of thousands of people in need.

A special air route has been set up to deliver aid from the capital, Santiago, to Concepcion, 430km (270 miles) to the south.

International aid from Chile's neighbours has been arriving as well.

RESPONSE ROW

Rescue crews with sniffer dogs have stepped up the search for survivors and in Concepcion, heavy equipment is being used to help move the heaps of rubble.

Officials say 799 people are confirmed to have died but there are reports of many people still missing in the coastal town of CONSTITUCION.

There have been complaints that the number of deaths could have been lower if the government had moved more quickly immediately after the earthquake struck before dawn on Saturday.

The full extent of damage from one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded was difficult to immediately assess with roads and bridges badly damaged and power and communication links cut.

President Bachelet initially declined international offers of help but has now asked for generators, mobile hospitals and water treatment plants.

An admiral said Chile's navy was partially to blame for the lack of a clear tsunami warning, but said the natural disaster agency should share the blame.

"We were unclear with the information we gave because we were not precise enough to tell the president if the alert was to be maintained or cancelled," said the navy's Admiral Edmundo Gonzalez.

"And this undoubtedly, with the information that the head of the [oceanographic service] gave to the president, undoubtedly stopped the [government natural disaster agency], under instructions from the president, from declaring an alert."

The head of the natural disaster agency, Carmen Fernandez, said an earlier alert would not have helped save lives because there was no system in place to tell people in time.

The tsunami reached across the Pacific, hitting New Zealand and Japan with surges of water a metre (3ft) or more high about 24 hours after the earthquake.

In Chile, about 200km (124 miles) of coastline were swept by the tsunami with waves of up to six metres hitting some towns. In places the water reached 2km inland, said an emergency official in the Maule region.

About two million Chileans are believed to have been affected by Saturday's earthquake, the seventh most powerful on record and the worst disaster to befall Chile in 50 years.

The epicentre of the quake was 115km north-east of Concepcion and 325km south-west of the capital Santiago.

About 1.5 million homes in Chile have been damaged. Most of the collapsed buildings were of older design - including many historic structures.

Chile's president has appealed for calm in the earthquake-ravaged city of Concepcion, vowing a stern response to any renewal of looting and violence.

Michelle Bachelet says 14,000 troops are now in the region, after dozens of looters were arrested.

As night fell, curfews were imposed across four major urban centres in Chile, including an 18-hour curfew in Concepcion, one if its largest cities.

Some half a million people are homeless in a city now under military control.

The death toll from the 8.8-magnitude quake now stands at 795, officials say, but emergency workers also say 19 people are still unaccounted for.

One mayor, from Hualpen, near Concepcion, said many on the streets were more terrified of crime than aftershocks.

"The thugs have taken over the city. Now we are not afraid of the earthquakes, we're afraid of the criminals," Marcelo Rivera told a Chilean radio station.

Armoured vehicles have been stationed at strategic points across Concepcion and armed soldiers patrol the streets.

Groups of residents are reported to have gathered together to form vigilante groups to confront would-be looters.

'Necessary measure'

A special air route is being set up to deliver aid from the capital, Santiago, to Concepcion, 430km (270 miles) away.

But security in the city remains a key concern after shops and homes were looted on Monday and police made a large number of arrests.

The deteriorating security situation in Concepcion comes despite the influx of thousands of troops to reinforce local police.

"We can say that, according what we've been told from the area, the situation in Concepcion is under control today," President Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday.
But, she added, authorities would take any "necessary measure" to stop renewed looting.

"Our principle objective is to go and help people tackle the emergency in the disaster zone.

Aid agencies have yet to reach Concepcion, reports the BBC's Andy Gallacher, who has reached the city, where many people are still awaiting water, food and mattresses.

However, at least two police officers appear to be posted on every corner in the city centre, our correspondent says.

Some residents quoted by Reuters news agency said they were organising groups to defend their property.

Reports from the town of Pelluhue suggested that a series of tsunamis swept through what was a tranquil seaside resort, destroying houses and claiming many lives.

The government admits that its attempts to provide aid swiftly have been hampered by damaged roads and power cuts.

The air supply route between Santiago and Concepcion will help the authorities send more than 300 tonnes of aid, including 120 tonnes of food, to the worst-affected area of the country.

Roskilde 5 July 2009

Herning 16 August 2009

HELP CHILE AND HAITI by making DONATIONS to ONE OF THESE RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS:

Chile's reconstruction will take "three to four years" as the country recovers from the earthquake that killed some 800 people, its president has said.

"There are rural areas where everything has tumbled to the ground... infrastructure has been destroyed," Michelle Bachelet told Chilean radio.

It would take international aid and most of the next government's mandate to rebuild, Ms Bachelet added.

President-elect Sebastian Pinera is set to take over from her next week.

The cost of the damage, which Ms Bachelet described as "enormous", has so far been estimated at between $15bn and $30bn.

"Chile has the resources for a number of actions, but we will have to ask for credit from the World Bank and other entities," Ms Bachelet said.

Mr Pinera said his government would be one of reconstruction, with a plan of four clear stages - "to cope with the emergency needs of citizens, find people who are still missing, provide prompt and timely assistance to the sick and wounded, and restore law and order so that people can return to peace".

TREMORS

On Wednesday, strong aftershocks of magnitude 5.5 and higher were felt in several cities, including Santiago, and prompted tsunami warnings, which were later lifted.

An 18-hour nightly curfew remains in place in Concepcion, Chile's second largest city, and six other towns badly affected by the earthquake.

Officials say 799 people are confirmed to have died, but there are reports of many people still missing in the coastal town of CONSTITUCION.

About two million Chileans are believed to have been affected by Saturday's 8.8 magnitude earthquake, the seventh most powerful on record and the worst disaster to befall Chile in 50 years.

The epicentre of the quake was 115km north-east of Concepcion and 325km south-west of the capital Santiago.

About 1.5 million homes in Chile have been damaged.

Most of the collapsed buildings were of older design - including many historic structures.

Some four-and-a-half days after one of the largest earthquakes in recent history struck the province of CONCEPCION, and several nearby fishing villages were swept away by the subsequent tsunami, aid is now beginning to reach the affected region.

For days, we have seen trucks loaded with drinking water, basic food and mattresses on their way to the city, yet there was scant evidence of any major aid distribution on the ground.

It has been clear from chatting to the people living in the most precarious conditions in Concepcion - those who are camping in the streets in tents for fear of re-entering their quake-damaged houses - that they feel abandoned by the authorities in the wake of the disaster.

However, the Chilean government says it has been working hard to make sure the assistance reaches the places it is most needed.

The Trebol shopping mall, on the outskirts of CONCEPCION, is normally thronged with people buying the weekly groceries or visiting the hardware stores on the complex.

But today its car park looks very different. Guarded at every entrance by armed soldiers, the mall is the main distribution point for the regional aid effort.

As helicopters whirr overhead, hundreds of troops, firemen and civilian volunteers are packing shopping bags with basic goods which are then shipped out to the worst-affected areas.

Tonnes of rice, pasta, flour, cooking oil and salt are stacked up alongside other necessary basics like tents, sleeping bags and nappies. The car park is buzzing as fork-lift trucks criss-cross the forecourt, delivering fresh loads to eager volunteers.

'MODEL OF COOPERATION'

As his troops are loading up shopping bags with emergency supplies behind him, the ranking officer, Col Ramirez, has no time for the suggestion that the reaction has been too slow.

This is exemplary," he says, motioning around him, "a model of the kind of co-operation between the military and civil society which we must repeat everywhere if we're to overcome this catastrophe."

Some 400 government trucks have been despatched to this aid centre, with the vast majority of them already in Concepcion. In total, 16,000 tonnes of emergency supplies have arrived and the international community has also responded in recent days with particular help coming from the countries of Latin America.

Paulo Gutierrez is a representative of the national government who is working on delivering aid to Dichato, one of the nearby coastal towns washed away by the tsunami.

"I can understand the feelings of the people who say we've reacted slowly" he admits. "But at the same time, this was a disaster of such magnitude that the government has also never had to deal with an event like this before."

Explaining that the materials he was packing up would be airlifted to the devastated fishing village by helicopter, Paulo is adamant that the local and national authorities are doing everything they can.

"The next stage will be getting these items to the people and we're going to work as hard as we can until that's done."

But others are less impressed with the emergency response so far. Just a short drive from the supermarket forecourt is one of the numerous tent villages sprouting up across this city.

'WHERE IS OUR HELP'

Under the shelter of a motorway bridge, around two dozen families are surviving on what little clean water and food they can find, as they refuse to return to their homes until they have been made safe.

One of them, a young mother of two called Carina Venagas, is beginning to feel bitter about how quickly Chile offered help to Haiti following its massive earthquake earlier this year.

"With other countries, the President [Michelle Bachelet] and the state politicians told us that Chileans should be like brothers and extend the hand of help in their hour of need," she said.

"But where are our brothers? Where is our help? There are people drinking contaminated river water here, there are people who are ill. But there's been no doctors, no fresh water, nothing."

Meanwhile, the threat of further seismic activity continues to haunt the city. As the aid workers were taking a short break from loading the goods, there was a 5.9 aftershock which rocked Concepcion.

In the confusion of the ensuing minutes, a tsunami warning was reportedly issued creating panic in the streets and sending many residents running in fear.
The alarm was soon declared false, but those moments of mass hysteria revealed a city which is still very tense, and still anxious for help to arrive.

Powerful aftershocks sent terrified people scrambling for the hills in tsunami-prone coastal areas in Chile as aid began to pour into towns after the army managed to quell looting.

Four days after giant waves swept hundreds to their death, two powerful aftershocks, with magnitudes of 5.9 and 6.0, triggered a brief new tsunami warning Wednesday along the stretch of Chile's central coast worst hit on Saturday.

Thousands of traumatized earthquake survivors rushed to higher ground as troops ushered them up hillsides. The alert was lifted less than 30 minutes later.

Ignacio Gutierrez, from a Chilean television station, was driving into the devastated seaside resort of Constitucion when people fleeing stopped his car and shouted: "Run, run there is a tsunami."

Nelson Muna was bringing food and water for victims when he heard the sirens wailing and was confronted by a scene of utter panic: "We saw soldiers running, everyone running out of town. Even the soldiers were scared."

Another 6.1 magnitude aftershock struck late Wednesday in central Chile, one of nearly 200 to rattle the South American nation since Saturday's massive 8.8 temblor.

The panic came just as thousands of troops, with the help of a strict curfew, finally appeared to have restored some semblance of normality in CONCEPCION, Chile's second city, after days of post-quake unrest.

Traffic lights blinked on and neon signs came back to life as electricity returned and one of the area's biggest supermarkets announced it was opening for business.

With armored military vehicles guarding strategic points, food rations were being distributed by soldiers and volunteers in an orderly way, easing public anxiety after days when locals were left to defend themselves from armed gangs and arson attacks.

Deputy Interior Minister Patricio Rosende said more than 8,000 tons of relief aid have been distributed so far in affected areas, with another 174 tons ready for aerial and overland distribution on Thursday and 700 tons by two navy ships.

But families in the more remote parts of the surrounding Maule and Bio Bio regions complained they were being ignored and called desperately for supplies and medicine for children suffering from fevers and other ailments.

"In the countryside, we have received nothing," said Juana Rodriguez, a resident of Puerta Verde, a hamlet of 36 families not far from Constitucion.
"We need water, diapers, milk," she pleaded.

On Wednesday, the official death toll from the quake and the tsunami it unleashed rose to 802.

The majority of the new deaths were reported in the region north of Concepcion called MAULE, where nearly 600 people have been confirmed dead.

The toll, so far largely made up of people killed in the tsunami that followed the quake, is expected to rise sharply as coastal areas account for hundreds of missing.

In the seaside resort of Constitucion, before Wednesday's tsunami alert, sobbing relatives visited the morgue to identify swollen remains. Seven unidentified corpses in advanced stages of decomposition were listed as "NN," or "No Name."

"Most of the bodies are badly bloated and mutilated, difficult to identify. The stench is terrible," said an army lieutenant. "We're expecting more."

The handwritten list on a large white board propped against the morgue fence showed 78 dead from the tsunami that razed low-lying areas of a town that was a holiday paradise before disaster struck.

The head of the mayor's office said around 100 people were confirmed dead, but that at least 300 more were missing and feared dead in CONSTITUCION alone.

Despite being one of Latin America's richest countries, Chile has struggled to cope with the scale of a catastrophe thought to have cost it tens of billions of dollars.

President Michelle Bachelet, who has deployed 14,000 troops to the disaster zone, addressed the nation again on Wednesday, laying out in detail the extent of the damage.

"The reconstruction task will be enormous," said Bachelet, admitting many of Chile's lifeline industries, from agriculture and fishing to tourism and trade, had been decimated by the disaster.